Foot Fault: 'Mad Dog' Matosevic off the short leash with media and fans

It’s a special Marinko Matosevic edition of Foot Fault today. The man now known as ‘‘Mad Dog’’ – not that he will like to hear it – has left sections of the media in hysterics over the past two days at the Sydney International. Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic are the faces of men’s tennis in this country, with Matosevic playing the role of the ugly stepsister. In fact, so stricken of recognition is the Australian world No.56, he conducted his own press conference on Wednesday after walking into the media centre unrecognised following his straight-sets victory over No.3 seed Andreas Seppi.

He yelled out for an ATP official upon his arrival without attracting any attention, despite being on time for his 1pm press conference. He then led the media into the press conference, jokingly saying: ‘‘I told him 1 [o’clock]. I told him not to keep me waiting. Where is he? Should someone tell him I’m here?’’ After two minutes of small talk and what looked like a game of Candy Crush on his phone, he proceeded to say: ‘‘Let’s start. I told him 1. He’s probably got more important guys to deal with. Let’s do it.’’

Rev-up: Marinko Matosevic tries to get the crowd involved after his second-round win over Andreas Seppi. 'Mad Dog' later said he was less than impressed by the tepid home support. Photo: Reuters

After his first-round victory against Florian Mayer, Matosevic walked into the press conference slurping on a Frosty Fruit ice block. Despite a strong protest against a plea from an ATP official to hand over the ice block, he eventually obliged. But with no one escorting him into Tuesday’s press conference, Matosevic fulfilled his dream and conducted the entire press conference slurping on the ice block. Mind you, he did ask how to turn the air conditioning off when he entered the igloo-like room. Maybe Frosty Fruit will come on board as a sponsor? That might help lift his profile.

Howling mad

A couple of days ago, this column revealed the origin behind Matosevic’s nickname, ‘‘Mad Dog’’, which he discovered online after one admirer – believed to be from Sydney – reported it as his nickname on Wikipedia. It’s a nickname he only hears when he visits Sydney and has no idea why he has been given the moniker formerly associated with Newcastle Knights winger Adam MacDougall. But after breaking the golden rule and expressing his dislike of the nickname, it appears he’s now stuck with Mad Dog. ‘‘Some lady was calling me that [during the game] but I told her stop,’’ Mad Dog said. ‘‘I said I appreciate the support but can you please stop.’’

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Itching for attention

He should have taken any encouragement that came his way given he was less than impressed with the appreciation of the brand of tennis he was playing from the Sydney crowd on the grandstand court. ‘‘Well, the crowd was a little dead today,’’ Mad Dog said. ‘‘I played an unbelievable point to break him in the second set. We had like a 20-shot rally. He came in, I’ve lobbed him, and I had, like, a few little claps. I tried to get them going. I was like, ‘Come on, guys, it was one of the best points this tournament has ever seen – get going here’. ‘‘If that doesn’t get them going, I don’t know what will. I don’t know what they’re looking at. I was just kidding about the greatest point, though. But it was a good point, though.’’